Latest / Catholic Spirit Radio / Catholic Conversations #199: Rosary Rescue: The Woman Who Restores Prayer Beads and Hearts

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Catholic Conversations #199: Rosary Rescue: The Woman Who Restores Prayer Beads and Hearts · Catholic Spirit Radio

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Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Hello and welcome, friends. I'm Stan Ketzik. You know, some of the best conversations
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This is Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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Today, we have a very interesting guest with a very unique calling.
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Is Catholics a major part of our praying is the rosary? But what happens when
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your treasure beads break?
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My wonderful guest doesn't just fix rosaries. She restores prayers,
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memories, and sometimes even faith.
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Joyce Holm joins me in the studio. She's a rosary repairwoman with a mission.
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I hope this conversation just might change how you look at the old rosary in
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your drawer, and maybe will motivate you to use it a little more, too.
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Joyce Holm, welcome to Catholic Conversations. Well, I appreciate you having me.
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I really appreciate having you here. You know, I'd always like to start our
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conversations on this program by getting to know the guests.
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Can you tell us a little bit just about yourself in general?
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Tell us about where you live, your faith, and just who's Joyce?
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I live in Crystal Lake, Illinois, and that's about a half hour north of Wisconsin. Okay.
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And we've been living there for, it'll be 40 years in November since my husband and I have married.
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Wow. So, yeah. Congratulations.
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Thank you. He met you when you were 10. No.
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40 years, that's beautiful, wonderful. Yeah, we have two kids,
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and I have two grandchildren.
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Okay. So that's Lionel and Bella.
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My daughter's is Rebecca, and my son is Dennis. Okay. And...
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We've been Catholics. I've been a cradle Catholic. My husband converted from Lutheran to Catholic.
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Okay. And that was after we got married.
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And we joined a church, St. Thomas the Apostle, in Crystal Lake. Okay.
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And we've been members there since 2004.
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Now, is that close to the Woodstock area up that way?
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I'm trying to figure out. Because we reach about 16 different markets,
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and I was just wondering if you can get Catholic Conversations at the Catholic
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Spirit Radio Network where you live.
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It's one town away, yes. Okay, okay. Yes, we do.
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So we know that you've been married for 40 years. You've got a wonderful husband.
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You both look way too young, so it must be the good spirit with you.
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Okay, and you've got great kids, and you've got a good life.
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And now today you're here with us and you've got, I don't know if you call this
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a profession, a hobby, a calling, a spiritual awakening of your heart.
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You repair rosaries. How did you get into this?
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I, in 2004, I had surgery that I was going to be having.
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My sister actually has a surgery, too, in 2004.
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We received in the mail little boxes with holy cards and little pamphlets and
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pictures of Jesus and Mary.
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And then this little rosary.
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She got one also. and I opened it up and it was a ladder rosary.
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And you want to explain what a ladder rosary is? And you've given me one.
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I'll talk about that a little later. Thank you, by the way. You're welcome.
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Tell us what a ladder rosary looks like. A ladder rosary is where two ropes
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are on the side or chains.
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It's like a ladder. When you're praying it, it's like a ladder going up.
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So the bead is in the middle and you've got a chain on each side.
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On each side. Each bead is sideways instead of lengthwise. Okay.
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And I thought it was so beautiful, I had to make it.
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Oh, okay. And it took me six days to make one because it's like a trip to Hobby
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Lobby, a trip to Michael's, you know.
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And then you see something else, and I never made rosaries before.
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Did you have a crafting background, or is this something you just started because you got this in the mail?
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My dad was a master tool and dye when he was alive. Okay.
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So he gave me the gift of, I want to figure this out. I see. And that's what I did.
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I figured it out. It took me six days to make one.
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And I was like, so impressed with it. I thought, this is pretty cool.
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So I kept on making them and making them.
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And actually, the first one that I made was out of like necklace.
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And, you know, it was not what I make now. Mm-hmm.
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Because you didn't know all the different materials that were available to you.
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Yeah, I had all kinds of different things.
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You were just kind of doing this from the seat of your pants.
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Yes. You had no idea how to put this together. You said, okay,
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I'm just going to figure it out. Yep. And you did. I did.
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And I got... So it took you six days to make a rosary. Yeah.
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It took God six days to make the world. Yeah.
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And on the seventh day, I rested.
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Okay. But people noticed that I had a unique rosary, and I was praying with my letter rosary.
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And I would say, you know, I'm trying to figure out how to make these, and I'm making them.
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And people are like, oh, you fix rosaries too.
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So they would kind of hand off their broken rosaries at church right before mass.
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They'd hand me a rosary in a little bag with their little name and number in
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it. And I bring it home and then I bring it the next Sunday to mass and I give it to him. I fix it.
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So that's how it started.
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And it took you six days to make one. How long does it take you to repair one?
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It depends on what's going on with it. It could take a couple minutes.
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It could take me taking it home and then sending it back or getting it back
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to the person or them coming to me, you know.
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I just want to tell our listeners that when you came in here today,
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Joyce Holm, Rosary Repair Lady, you started working the second you sat down.
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Anne brought in a rosary and then Kathy brought in a rosary.
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And all of a sudden, your husband goes, well, this is what she does.
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And you fixed them within a couple of minutes here. Both done,
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yes. That was fantastic.
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Yeah. So go ahead. So you started repairing these at church,
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and did it just kind of snowball?
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All of a sudden, people are pointing, hey, have you got a rosary that needs repair?
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Yeah. Well, I started making the letter rosaries out of, like, olive wood and stuff.
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Okay. And the first olive wood rosary that I made, I had a really strong—I was at church.
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I had a really strong feeling of looking at these three people in the very front pew,
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which we have a signer at church, and these two, the father and daughter,
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were standing next to each other.
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And for some reason, during the whole mass, I was laser focused on these two.
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And I had a rosary in my pocket. And for some reason, I had to give that rosary to whoever was there.
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The deaf person. Okay. So after, after mass, he was next to me and I said,
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I'll be right back. He's your husband. Yes. I'll be right back.
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So I went and I talked to Mary, which he, she's the signer. Okay.
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And I said, who's, who's the, the one that has the deaf problem?
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And she said, oh, it was the little girl.
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So I, I went up to the father and mother and I said, I have a gift for her if that's okay.
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And they said, yeah, that's fine. So I handed her the rosary. I turned around.
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Now, I wasn't using a walker or anything. So I was on my own, you know.
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So I walked away and I got in line for the Knights of Columbus breakfast. Okay.
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And Mary came up to me and she goes, they want to meet you. And I said,
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I'd just rather, you know, be somebody that gave them a gift, you know, no biggie.
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And she goes, no, you don't understand. You don't know what you've done.
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Wow. This girl cannot go any farther in her education. They have to leave the state.
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And they came today for their remembrance for their last Mass.
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Oh, my gosh. And the feeling you had to focus on them. I had goosebumps.
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Yeah. So I told her, I'd rather just be a friendly face, be about the rosary.
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And so, yeah, that's what it was. So, that was the first day that it was on
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your heart, and you touched their hearts with the gift of a rosary. Wow!
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And I have tons of stories like that, that I do give rosaries.
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I also sell them, and the proceeds all go to whatever church I'm at.
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It goes to that youth ministry or religious ed or something like that.
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Yeah, well, that was an incredible story. Do you have any—how about another
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story where you might have—.
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Anything unusual happen, like a spiritual occurrence or something with a rosary repair?
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This is very interesting. If you're just tuning in, we're talking to Joyce Holm,
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and she is from the Crystal Lake area.
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She repairs rosaries. I didn't even know that was a thing.
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Oh, that's right, for free. Yes. For free. But so we just heard about an incredible
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story for a little deaf girl who you had made a rosary, not for, but you gifted it to her.
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Yes. And now, something else beautifully spiritual.
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So, I can make ladder rosaries out of any kind of beads.
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Okay. And I had found red and purple heart beads.
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So, they look like hearts. They're hearts. Okay. Yeah. Okay.
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And so, I made them every other way, you know, just all the way down.
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Can I ask this question, though?
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Is there any technical thing for a rosary? Is there a technical,
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you mentioned heart beads. I've always just seen the regular round beads.
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Can they be any shape, any size? They can be seeds.
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They can be olive wood. They can be— And what does olive wood look like?
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You were just describing how beautiful it is. Is it just a beautiful wood?
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It's just the bead that it's made out of.
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It's either round or oval. Okay. You know, it's a brown bead. Oh, it's brown. Okay.
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But anything. You can make them out of anything. Yeah.
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And I made two rosaries for one of my friends that we go to the light.
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We used to go to the light of the world.
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And what is the light of the world? Light of the world is where you take the
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weekend and you go to talks and you go to reflections and everything.
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So like a retreat or a getaway. Yeah. Okay. But you can go back to your own bed at night.
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Oh, okay. You know, so. Sure. Yeah. and then you continue if you would like,
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every week or every month, once a month, just sitting with people in your group
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and talking about religion and about anything that's going, you know,
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so this one friend had two daughters.
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And so I made the rosaries for her daughters and I made a decade rosary also,
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which is 10 beads and in our Father and a cross in the center.
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And she kind of looked at me like, why did you make these?
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Well, her daughters were going to be receiving communion one year and the next
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year. Wow. So that they could have them.
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And she said, these are their birthstones colors.
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And you didn't even know that. No, I didn't. Oh, my gosh.
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That's another one. Now you're giving me goosebumps. There's something beautifully
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spiritual about the way you've been steered into this. That is just something.
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You know, repairing rosaries, it requires patience, tiny parts, steady hands.
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How did you even master the skill? Is it just, I know you talked about you're
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gifted through your dad.
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Yeah. But how do you, has there been anything tough that you haven't been able to repair?
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Yeah, there's been probably about three rosaries that I've ran into that I couldn't
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repair. the ones that are like melted onto the string. I can't repair those. Okay, okay.
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The ones that are so intricate that they go around and inside the bead and around
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and they're kind of looped to not break, and they do.
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Okay, okay. They're man-made, so they do. Okay.
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So, but that's pretty much, even the Knights of Columbus breakfast rosaries have.
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Aluminum chain that are very hard to repair, but I can do it. Oh, really? Okay, yeah.
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What's the most unusual rosary you've ever seen? The most unusual rosary was
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a rosary where each bead had a miraculous metal inside the bead. A miraculous metal?
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A miraculous figure inside the bead. Oh, I see.
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It was a blue bead, and then there was a miraculous Mary was in each bead.
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Oh, my gosh. It was just gorgeous.
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Wow, that is beautiful. Where was that? Was that somebody's private or was that
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from a church or something like that?
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Yeah, it was private, yes. You know, I want to actually talk.
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First of all, I want to thank you.
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When you came in, you gifted me with this beautiful ladder rosary.
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This is, my wife is going to have a big smile, and I don't think this is going to be my rosary.
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This will be my family rosary because she loves rosaries. And I've never seen,
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I haven't seen a letter rosary. Is it common?
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The first one I got was in 2004. Okay. So I never saw them before either.
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But this is just absolutely beautiful. And blue happens to be my favorite color.
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Oh, good. What type of stone would you call this?
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Those are crystals. These are actual crystal beads. Wow.
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Yeah. Wow, that's a big deal. This is, I wish online, you know,
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I know that Ann took a picture of this when you came in.
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And I'm sure somewhere on catholicspiritradio.com we'll have this on display
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because this is just absolutely beautiful.
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And I know that we do rosaries. When you came in and you and your husband,
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Dennis, came in, hopefully you saw the big rosary hanging.
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You know, we'd like you to go up and change the light bulbs before you leave here. Is that okay?
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Can we handle that, Miss Repair Lady, who can do anything?
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I might have my husband do that one. He just waved his hand out,
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but I just want to say this is just, this is absolutely beautiful.
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If you're just tuning in, this is Joyce Holm. She has a spiritual calling. She repairs rosaries.
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I didn't know it was a thing, and I bet a lot of people didn't know it was a thing.
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You know, what do you feel when you're holding somebody's heirloom?
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Do you, these are such spiritual items, and sometimes they're passed down from person to person.
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Do you ever go, wow, this is a big deal. Oh, yeah.
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Every rosary that I repair is a special rosary for me.
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Even if it's plastic, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because it's special to them.
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Absolutely. Wow, that is... Yeah. In 2014, Monsignor Hermas was the head of
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our church, and since then he retired. And...
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Him and I were sitting in a chair talking, and I thought, you know,
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what if I set up a table in here?
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We were at the Knights of Columbus breakfast once a month. It's the third Sunday,
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and I can repair rosaries.
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And now he, at first, he was like, well, if I let you set up a table,
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we're going to have to let every group set up a table.
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And I said, well, what if I do it for free? He goes, oh, for free? Yeah, that's fine.
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He was all in. And I told him, I said, you know, if I don't have any more rosaries
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to repair, then, you know, I'll be done.
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He goes, you're in for the long haul.
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And you mentioned free. That's, you charge nothing to do this. No, I don't.
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Because I know when you, the first thing you did, you repaired Ann's and she
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wanted to pay you and you said no. And Ann said, I will pray for you.
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And we will continue to pray. I'm going to be praying on this rosary for you.
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Holy cow, this is just absolutely beautiful.
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We have a, this is a, so far you're, you know, this is going too fast.
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This is really, it feels like we just started the conversation.
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And if you've just tuned in, you're listening to Catholic Conversations on the
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Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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Our friend today is Joyce Holm, a woman from the McHenry area who repairs broken
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rosaries. I said McHenry, but Crystal Lake, is that all?
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Crystal Lake is McHenry County. Okay, McHenry County. Okay. You repair broken
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rosaries, one bead, one prayer at a time. You restore heirlooms, untangle knots.
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You probably get some knots in there somewhere.
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You'll fix a centerpiece that's damaged.
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And, you know, we've got a lot to ask you, so we'll be back right after these messages.
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Welcome back to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
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I'm Stan Ketzik. Before the break, we were talking to Joyce Holm,
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the rosary repair woman from Crystal Lake.
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She's here with her husband, Dennis, who we're going to send out to repair the
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lights on the rosary that we hang from the building here at Catholic Spirit
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Radio. I'm just kidding.
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Dennis, we'd love to have you do that. We don't need any lights right now.
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So, if you need another coffee, just wave at me because this is a conversation
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that we have with coffee here.
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And your wife, Joyce, is fascinating. Joyce, before the break,
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we were talking about the ways that you repair.
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And you mentioned to me off air, you don't fix centerpieces.
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You can replace them. Yeah. Okay. If they want it.
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A centerpiece would be Jesus. The center of the rosary, where Mary is usually, or a saint.
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The corpus is the cross, is Jesus on the cross. Okay. I can't repair those.
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I do have crosses and centers that I can either replace them,
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or if they want to keep theirs, that's fine too.
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Can they look up something and have it online and say, hey, I'd like to have
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this replaced on my... Yes. They can bring you something and you'll do that? Okay. Yeah.
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Do you, how do I ask this? I...
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Can you just, do you make them from nothing? Do you get an idea?
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Hey, I think I'd like to design this or, you know, tell me a little bit about
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the inspiration that hits you when you're making the custom rosaries.
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I had an, I didn't have an order. I actually took it upon myself to make a St.
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Patrick's rosary. Okay. Was this for St. Patrick's Day for someone or someone
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you knew? St. Patrick's Day for a raffle.
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Oh, okay. Okay. When we have 50-50 raffle, I donate a rosary and then it goes
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to somebody and then they can have it blessed and pray on it or whatever.
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Okay. So this past one, I figured I'm going to use green colors,
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the dark green, the light green, and then the clear in the decades.
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The decade is the 10 beads. There's five decades on a rosary.
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Okay. So the 10 beads that was too dark, too medium, too white,
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too medium, too dark, that's 10 beads.
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And it was green. So I had the St. Patrick's cross and I had the center.
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And so we donated that. And what that did was it brought about a couple other
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people wanting their type of a rosary color.
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Okay. And I had made a blue one, which went dark to light. This lady had two
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rosaries that she wanted blue. Wow.
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But she wanted them different. So I made them dark to light,
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and then the other one went light to dark.
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Oh, my gosh. Very creative. Very creative.
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It's amazing because...
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If I can't figure something out, I sit and I pray.
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Oh, wow. Help me fix it. And it comes to me, and that's— That is absolutely
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beautiful. It's really neat.
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Have you had any custom orders where people have said, hey, look,
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I've got five kids. Can you do five different colors?
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Has there been anybody that has said, hey— The Knights of Columbus actually
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recently wanted— they had the eighth graders do—some of them do essays.
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Uh-huh. And I had made five different colors of the latter rosary.
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For them, they gave away three of them, I'm pretty sure, and then two of them went to the teachers.
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Wow. Nice remembrance. Yeah, and it was really neat. It was for an essay for Pope Leo.
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Now, you know, I wanted to ask you, you're talking about Pope Leo.
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Fulton Sheen is going to be a saint. If someone were to say,
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hey, Joyce, could you make a Fulton Sheen type of themed rosary?
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How would you, what would you,
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how would those wheels turn that I see are already turning in your head?
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What would you do? Well, there's no Pope Leo Center.
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There's no Fulton Sheen Center. Okay.
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So what I did for the Pope Leo Rosary, I looked up Pope Leo medals,
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and I added the medal to the rosary.
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Oh, wow. So I made it special.
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Oh, my gosh. Wow. Can you get a medal from just about any saint?
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If you look up online. If you look up online. Okay.
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And I have Our Lady Rosary Makers in Kentucky is where I get most of my supplies from. Okay.
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That's all my crosses, centers, some of my beads.
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Some beads come from other people. They want, you have to have at least 59 beads.
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That's what's in a rosary.
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Okay. If one of the beads is broken, I need 60 beads.
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Yeah. I need 59 beads that are good.
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Well, let me ask you, do you ever have a... When you're putting these together,
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do you have broken pieces that you have to... Like a brand new one.
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It doesn't come in a kit. You just make these custom.
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They're all custom, yeah. You never know what could happen. Is each...
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Construction and adventure? That's what I'm kind of wondering.
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Is it kind of like putting a puzzle together for you? Do you sit back afterwards
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and feel some spiritual fulfillment when it's done?
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Yeah, well, I've got a routine now that I can, I've got the chains measured out.
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Oh, nice. You know, it's chains, it's eye pins.
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I've got three different size eye pins that I could use. Okay.
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Six millimeter, seven and eight millimeter. Okay. And I have made eight millimeter
25:57
rosaries, which are very, very big and bulky.
26:01
But usually I use six, those are six millimeters. Okay.
26:05
You know, there was a story that went along with this.
26:08
It's the story of the Ladder Rosary.
26:10
Would you like to tell us about it or would you like me to read it?
26:14
Well, you know, you say, Stan, go ahead and read it. But I'm half blind and
26:17
I'm, I didn't bring my, I have my glasses on.
26:21
But it says, your Ladder Rosary, it's your Ladder to Heaven.
26:25
Your Ladder to Heaven Rosary is a reminder that the easiest way to Jesus is
26:31
through his mother Mary.
26:32
Wow, that is very powerful and true.
26:35
According to a legend, St. Francis de Sales once had a vision of two ladders
26:42
reaching up to heaven. Now, that's beautiful.
26:45
One ladder was very steep and
26:49
difficult to climb, while the second ladder was shorter and much safer.
26:54
And he noticed that this ladder was held by Mary.
26:59
So I see the smile on your face. In the vision, St.
27:02
Francis de Sales heard Jesus say, tell your people to come to me by this ladder
27:09
and by the way of my mother.
27:10
That is absolutely beautiful.
27:13
And you put these out with your rosaries. Yes, that story came with the rosary that I got.
27:20
Okay. You were mentioning your gift. Who sent you the gift of all of the different
27:26
religious items before your operation?
27:29
A guy named George McZura.
27:31
Okay. It was a friend of a friend of a friend of my mom's. Okay.
27:36
And this was before 2004 when I was ready for this surgery.
27:43
Mm-hmm. He got wind of a Mary Lerner, my mom, having two daughters that are
27:50
going to be going through surgeries.
27:52
So his mission and ministry is to hand out these boxes.
28:01
Oh, okay. Of Mary and Jesus pictures and pamphlets and holy cards and these rosaries.
28:10
So that's where it started. And I give credit to George for his ministry because
28:17
he started me on my ministry. That's what I was going to say.
28:20
Have you talked to George?
28:21
Did you say, George, do you know what this box did? Yes. Wow.
28:25
Yeah. And he was amazed. And actually, I made rosaries for him.
28:32
And he's added them to his boxes. I just, that is unbelievable.
28:37
You never know when you're saying something, you're doing something or,
28:42
you know, I'm sure the people that you gifted your first rosaries to,
28:45
those two folks that you were laser focused on on church, that touched their
28:50
heart. That's going to be with them until the day they die.
28:52
Yeah. I mean, do you realize what you do?
28:56
Sometimes you don't, you can't. What's amazing is what people do in their lives
29:03
so impact other people. Yes, that's beautiful.
29:07
And I've given rosaries away, and I don't know the impact.
29:11
Yeah, that's what I mean. But then again, I find out sometimes I gave a rosary
29:17
to the light of the world, another girl, a lady, that gave it to her sister.
29:24
Her sister never got a rosary in her life. That was the first roser she ever got.
29:29
I didn't know that until probably a year later. Wow.
29:33
So it's just...
29:37
It's an act of kindness given to somebody, to give to somebody else,
29:43
to give to somebody else, to pray for somebody else. It's such a beautiful gift, too.
29:49
What you've given me today is going to be an heirloom in my family.
29:53
You've gifted me an heirloom. I mean, seriously, this is—I hope people will
29:58
go to catholicspiritradio.com and take a look at this ladder rosary that Joyce Holm made.
30:04
It is just absolutely lovely. And, I mean, you're having that effect on—how
30:10
many people have you served with this ministry that you've put together here? A lot. A lot. Okay.
30:16
McDonald's are over one million served? No, no. How many do you think?
30:20
Just out of the blue. Okay, you started this what year? In 2004.
30:24
2004. I've made, oh, probably, I would say a good 1,200 rosaries. Wow.
30:31
And I've given probably about 300, 400 rosaries.
30:36
Some of my rosaries I made for my husband and my daughter that went to the World
30:42
Youth Day in 2005 and 2008. Wow.
30:49
And I gave them to them where they could barter with somebody else to get something from their country.
30:56
Oh, my gosh. So, they're in China, they're in India, they're all over the place.
31:00
That is beautiful. And you know what's so cool? This is a beautiful piece of,
31:08
oh, it's a material, but each one of these beads is going to be a prayer.
31:15
Somebody is going to say, somebody has said, if you've given away thousands
31:20
of these, can you imagine maybe a million prayers have been said because of something you've done.
31:26
Holy cow, it's a good thing you had to have that operation. Also,
31:30
the repair rosaries. Yes, yes.
31:34
It never fails. They always say, I'll pray for you. Yeah. Thank you.
31:39
I appreciate that. It happened today with Kathy.
31:41
Tell me something. Okay, now you repair these rosaries. Give me a story on how
31:47
somebody must have been moved to tears at some time.
31:50
There's got to be a memory where you just go, wow, that really felt good that
31:54
you gave a rosary back to someone who thought it was broken forever.
32:00
Have you come across something like that?
32:03
I've had quite a few rosaries. Yeah. I mean, I sit during the nights of Columbus.
32:10
It's usually from like 8 till 12. And he does dishes at our church.
32:16
So I sit there till like 2 o'clock.
32:20
So cool. So, and I repair the rosaries and it's just every single rosary that's
32:27
repaired has a story behind it.
32:30
But, you know, my mom gave me this or I got this from my first Holy Communion.
32:36
This one lady came and she said she was like in her 80s. This was from her first
32:42
Holy Communion. It's beautiful.
32:44
She didn't think it could be fixed. And I fixed it for her.
32:48
And she was very grateful. And it's just, it's a drive that I have.
32:56
You know, if I get a rosary and I can't fix it at that spot,
33:02
I have to bring it home to fix,
33:04
then I get home and it's like I can't even sit and eat lunch or anything. I got to fix that rosary.
33:12
Oh, okay. So it's just got to get done. Yeah.
33:15
The only time that I have to wait is if I have to order a part.
33:18
Wow. So, yeah, it kills me. But, you know, yeah, it's a drive.
33:24
And I know Mary's guiding me because it's just every rosary.
33:31
While I'm sitting eating breakfast, if somebody comes up with a rosary, I got to go do the rosary.
33:37
I don't care if my breakfast gets cold. Oh, my gosh.
33:41
You remind me of Kevin Matthews has a book out called Broken Mary.
33:46
And he talks about repairing or getting a Mary statue repaired and how it completely changed his life.
33:55
And you have the same...
33:59
Not only presence, but you have this in your heart. I could just see that Mary was guiding him.
34:05
Mary's guiding you. He's even guided you to have Dennis do the dishes.
34:10
So that's amazing. He does the Knights of Columbus dishes.
34:16
He does met home too. He's just a great guy. Just seeing you too.
34:20
You know, sometimes the great thing about Catholic Spirit Radio,
34:23
and I've noticed it since the beginning of coming into this building,
34:27
It's almost like everybody in here has a spirit about them.
34:31
It's just a, I don't know if it's a calming thing.
34:34
I don't know what it is, but you and your husband had it when you came in.
34:37
It's almost like a glow. Yeah, yeah, God in your hearts and in your soul.
34:41
Isn't it wonderful that you found this calling to do this?
34:45
And I wasn't, what's crazy about it is I wasn't even looking to do anything, I mean, like this.
34:53
Yeah. And when you see something that you go, wow, this is amazing,
35:00
and you do something about it, I made it. Yes. It took me six days to make.
35:06
It takes me about two and a half hours to make one rosary like you have.
35:12
And this was a six-dayer originally, right? It took you six days.
35:16
Wow. Yes. This is just absolutely beautiful.
35:18
Do people hang them on their—do they put them around their—I wouldn't wear this
35:23
as jewelry, But I see some people sometimes with the rosary around their necks.
35:26
Does that happen or is that how they get broken? Yeah.
35:29
Sometimes, but the one that I make does not fit around your head.
35:33
Yeah, I see that. This is just absolutely beautiful.
35:36
It's made to be preyed on. It's not made for jewelry.
35:40
But some people, you know, in my personal opinion, myself, I would never wear a rosary.
35:50
No, I wouldn't either. But there are some people that do, which is,
35:54
you know, they have them hanging from the rearview mirror.
35:57
I've got a... Sure. I've got a center, three beads that are,
36:02
two of them are my mom's birthstone, and the middle one is from her funeral, the roses.
36:09
That's the bead that we had made. And then there's a cross hanging from my rearview mirror.
36:15
My son's thumbprint is on there.
36:19
Wow. He died by suicide. Oh, I'm so sorry. This month, four years ago. So, so sorry. Thank you.
36:27
I miss him every day. I'm sure. Oh, my gosh. So, he's on the mirror, too. Wow. Yeah.
36:34
You know, when you mentioned the rosary, there's so many people that when they
36:41
are laid to rest, they are holding a rosary. Yes.
36:45
Can you imagine that your gift has sometimes been, I'm sure,
36:49
the last thing that people are holding before they see God?
36:54
I know one of the larger rosaries, the 8mm rosaries that I made was...
37:02
Was for a friend and her husband and she passed away and she got buried with that rosary.
37:09
So what I did was I made two of the exact same rosaries out of glass beads and
37:17
gave them to her daughters.
37:19
Wow. So that way they have a resemblance of what mom had. Oh,
37:25
wow. So, yeah. You are really something.
37:28
You are really something. I'll tell you. I just want to thank everybody who's tuning in.
37:32
This is Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network. We have Joyce Holm.
37:38
She has a calling that is just absolutely phenomenal, something I have never
37:43
even knew, or I'd never even know.
37:45
I didn't know you could have these things repaired, these beautiful rosaries
37:49
that we have that break, and you happen to be the—do you have any competition
37:52
out there? Is there anybody else?
37:54
Not too much. I can't fix this. You better call Oh, Joyce, she's up there in Crystal Lake.
38:00
There are a few people in town that do repair.
38:05
We have a Christian store, The Little Way.
38:08
I was wondering if they ever call you and go, hey, Joyce, can you repair this?
38:11
Oh, he repairs rosaries, too.
38:13
Oh, he does, okay. But if he has a problem, then he brings it to me and he says, check this out.
38:19
Well, you know, my problem is I'm always gabbing and we've gone over time again.
38:23
We've got to take a little break. But anyway, this is Joyce Holm with Stan Katsik,
38:27
me, and we are talking about rosary repair.
38:29
This is a fascinating subject, and you have touched.
38:33
All kinds of people with these repairs and these beautiful rosaries that you create.
38:39
And it's just an honor to be with you today. And it's an honor to have you listening
38:44
to us on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network. We'll be right back.
38:48
You're listening to Catholic Conversations on Catholic Spirit Radio.
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Visit mycatholicwill.com right slash catholicspiritradio to get started today.
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39:22
As you've heard, Catholic Spirit Radio is hosting their 15th anniversary pilgrimage to Wisconsin.
39:27
Seats filled up so quickly that we've added another bus. Now more seats are available.
39:32
This three-day trip includes exclusive tours of shrines and basilicas,
39:36
plus luxury bus transportation, meals, and hotel.
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What a great gift idea. Departure is August 10th from Normal and Rockford.
39:44
Make your reservation at catholicspiritradio.com or Kathy at 309-828-6554.
39:52
Hello, this is Bishop Louis Tilka from the Diocese of Peoria.
39:55
I want to congratulate Catholic Spirit Radio on their 15th anniversary.
39:59
I was pleased to visit and bless the station studio.
40:03
You are touching the souls of so many. The listeners in the Diocese of Superior
40:08
appreciate your efforts.
40:09
I wish you again a very happy anniversary and hope you keep our airwaves full
40:13
of the Lord's love and words.
40:14
May the Holy Spirit bless this ministry, its volunteers, and all its listeners.
40:19
In the name of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit, amen.
40:26
Welcome back to Catholic Conversations on the Catholic Spirit Radio Network.
40:30
I'm Stan Ketzig. Before the break, we were talking to Joyce Holm,
40:33
and we're talking to her right now.
40:34
Joyce, it is wonderful to have you with us. You repair rosaries.
40:38
Yes. While we were on the break, your husband, Dennis, was telling me about
40:42
a very interesting story that happened while you were in a church.
40:46
And describe the beautiful rosary Dennis was telling us about and how it broke and what happened.
40:52
Sister Apollonia is a nun that I know.
40:56
And she had her rosary, the big rosary that they wear on their waist.
41:04
The nuns wear these long rosaries that sometimes you can see swinging.
41:09
When I was a kid, they all had them on with the habits, which I wish they all wore.
41:13
Yeah, she gave me a big bag of rosaries that needed to be fixed because when
41:18
they walk past things, they kind of catch and they break.
41:22
So I fixed them all, and she needed to go up to the altar, and as she was walking,
41:29
her rosary caught on a pew and broke.
41:32
In church? In church, and I was up ahead, and she just unhooked it and handed
41:38
it off to me, and I took it home, fixed it, and got it back to her.
41:42
It wasn't beads everywhere. No, it just— You weren't having to crawl under pews to find things okay.
41:49
It just, the rosaries, when people pray on them, they tend to,
41:55
it's a normal thing to pull on them. Sure.
41:58
And they're metal. So the eye pins on them open.
42:03
They're like a question mark. The top of the question mark is closed.
42:06
And when you pull on it, it opens them and they come undone. Okay.
42:11
It's an easy fix. I do, whenever I repair a rosary, I check every single eye
42:18
pin on it, make sure they're closed, make sure they're straight.
42:22
There's a lot of things that I look for to fix a rosary, to repair it.
42:28
And some of them have rings before the bead and after the bead, each bead.
42:34
If it's missing one, I'll replace the ring again.
42:39
Which is a lot of, it's technical stuff, but it's doable.
42:45
Some of them, those kind, I have to take home because they're missing quite a few rings.
42:51
I got you. And it does take a little bit. Well, you know, I just want to say
42:55
that our radio signal reaches about one and a half million homes with all of
43:02
the different towers and radio stations we're affiliated with.
43:05
And people have been listening to us for quite a while now, and they're all
43:09
thinking to themselves, Stan, will you ask her where I can get my rosary repaired?
43:14
Where do you do this stuff at? Or how can they contact you if they have to?
43:19
Usually I'm sitting at the Knights of Columbus breakfast.
43:24
Where is which Knights of Columbus? Is that up in Crystal Lake where you guys
43:30
are at? In Crystal Lake, yes.
43:31
There's also Knights of Columbus in Marengo. So, the Crystal Lake is St.
43:38
Thomas the Apostle in Crystal Lake. That's the parish.
43:41
The third Sunday of every month, we have a Knights of Columbus breakfast.
43:45
You can have breakfast while you're getting your rosary repaired. That's beautiful.
43:50
I love those Knights of Columbus breakfast. The fourth Sunday,
43:52
they have a Knights of Columbus breakfast from September to May.
43:58
Okay. So this past month was their last month to have their breakfast until September.
44:05
But theirs is the fourth Sunday of every month from September to May.
44:11
And you can sit and have breakfast and I'll repair your rosary there.
44:15
That's at Sacred Heart in Marengo.
44:20
In Marengo, okay. And then recently I've gone to St. Patrick's Parish in McHenry.
44:26
And they have breakfast once in a while.
44:30
And every time they have a breakfast, I sit and repair rosaries there, too.
44:35
Do you sit there with a—I saw you had a sign that says repairs are free.
44:39
Free rosary repair. So they just have to look for the lady that's got her little—you
44:44
had a whole—I don't know if they call that a caboodle full of—I saw you with
44:49
your pliers and everything.
44:50
And everything all set up. Yeah, that's just amazing. Wow. Yeah,
44:54
I have a little bag that has actually has beads that I got donated from my mom
45:01
and dad were rosary repair people.
45:03
Oh, and they made them out of the string.
45:06
So they would do that for their parish. And when they passed, I got their stuff.
45:12
OK, so I had beads, different colored beads and black and white and red and
45:18
green and you name it. And so if I get a rosary that is unique, I might have the bead.
45:26
If I don't, then I can figure it out. And usually I'll take like the Our Fathers,
45:32
if they're the same thing, and I'll repair the decades.
45:36
So the decades are whole and they're uniform.
45:39
Sure. And then the Our Fathers I'll change. Wow. So that they're different.
45:43
Wow. So, you know, there's a way to fix anything pretty much.
45:48
I love this. Now, you know, one of the interesting things when you handed me
45:52
this beautiful rosary you made, this beautiful ladder rosary,
45:56
you said it's not blessed. Right. And tell us about that.
46:00
The things that you create are not blessed. The things that you repair that
46:04
are blessed, they're blessed anyway.
46:06
Right. But so. When I make a rosary, I don't have it blessed because I can't
46:11
sell it and the proceeds can't go to the kids unless it's not blessed.
46:17
When it's blessed, I can't sell it. I don't sell it.
46:21
And when I repair things that are already blessed...
46:25
Anything I take off the rosary, I put in a little container and I take it and
46:30
I return it to the earth, which is what you do with blessed items that,
46:35
you know, if you don't, don't, if it's broken to disarray or disrepair,
46:42
then you can return it to the earth.
46:45
And that's, you let God take care of it.
46:48
If you replace a bead on somebody's rosary that's not blessed,
46:53
Is it considered blessed since it's a part of the entire rosary that you're fixing?
46:58
As far as I feel, if there's like string holding or a little twisty tie holding
47:06
it— Because it's already been blessed.
47:08
Yeah, I just take the twisty tie or string off and I put it in the container
47:13
and I return it to the earth because—.
47:16
My personal opinion, you never know. Yeah, yeah.
47:20
No, that's true. And I didn't even realize that you couldn't sell anything that
47:24
wasn't blessed or that was blessed.
47:26
You shouldn't. Because I was thinking we should sell coffee here at Catholic Spirit Radio.
47:32
We could have made it with holy water, but then we'd have to give it away. Yeah.
47:37
Then we'd have to have an open house. There you go. We'll have to do that.
47:41
So I see John shaking his head like, oh, sometimes, Stan, your ideas are dumb.
47:47
He should talk to my wife. He'd find out that it's more than sometimes.
47:50
But I would love to, one of these days, come down.
47:54
And if you guys have an event, I'd love to sit at a table and repair rosaries.
48:00
And that would be great because... Well, that's what we're going to do.
48:03
Here's what I'm going to ask you to do. I shouldn't be doing this because we're
48:07
on air and you can't say no.
48:09
Oh, I can. And Dennis is smiling over there.
48:12
But I usually don't. A couple times a year, we do an appeal here, okay?
48:19
We do one in the fall and one in the spring. It would be very cool when we're
48:22
having an appeal to have people bring their rosaries down to get them repaired
48:26
and do a donation to Catholic Spirit Radio while the celebrity who has been
48:31
on the radio is actually doing the repair.
48:35
And, you know, we get her— I would love to. And her husband will do dishes.
48:38
If you have any dishes to be cleaned up, they'll bring them in.
48:40
No. I don't think about that.
48:42
No, okay. No. But no, but think about that, you know, because we would love
48:45
to have you kind of be a little part of the family here.
48:47
You have such a great spirit, you and your husband, and you do so much for so many people.
48:52
Can you imagine, one of the beautiful things about this radio station,
48:56
all the people that pray and learn.
48:58
A lot of our listeners aren't even Catholic, and that's why we try to,
49:01
when we tell them about these things, you've got to almost kind of just make
49:05
sure that we're talking to people so that if they don't know about this, they...
49:10
I don't want to say dumb it down, but it's myself. I don't know a lot of this stuff.
49:14
So when I'm hearing a conversation about something Catholic,
49:18
I want to make sure that a person that doesn't know anything about our religion
49:23
gets informed and knows about it.
49:26
And this is something today that I'm just shaking my head at.
49:30
I'm like, I didn't even know this existed.
49:32
And here, these wonderful people walk in with great spirits.
49:35
I have a new heirloom that, you know, maybe I'll be buried with this.
49:40
You never know. That's okay. Hopefully not soon.
49:43
There you go. But this is just absolutely gorgeous. Thank you.
49:47
If people want to get a hold of you, you said you show up at those places.
49:51
Can they contact us through the radio station?
49:54
What if there's a custom order? Like I'm thinking if somebody has,
49:58
you know, they want to have a rosary made, you'll do that, right?
50:06
I can make them for them if they'd like. Yeah.
50:10
So I can give the station an email address or my phone number. That's what I'm saying.
50:17
So we can somehow, you know, maybe people can email you or something.
50:20
Yeah. I know these days. That would be good.
50:22
You're very busy and you get very busy.
50:26
But anyway, just give it some thought that maybe be a part of our appeals when we have them in the fall.
50:32
And we'll keep you in a good, warm area here. We've always got a ton of food.
50:36
So that's a good thing. I see Dennis smiling over there because, you know, great coffee.
50:41
But you've been fascinating today.
50:43
Is there anything else I've missed that we want to go over? You know,
50:47
I want people to know, Joyce Holm, her calling is repairing rosaries.
50:53
And you've generated millions of prayers with these rosaries. So, gosh.
50:59
It's just if you have a talent...
51:02
And you don't know what to do with it. Pray on it because God will guide you wherever you need to be.
51:10
And that's what he did for me. That's absolutely fascinating.
51:15
You know, have you ever thought about giving rosary creation classes or doing something online?
51:19
Because, I mean, you could pass on your talents.
51:25
I yeah I actually had
51:29
one of the Girl Scouts that wanted
51:32
their golden award I taught her how to make the not rosaries and she made them
51:39
and sent them overseas for the the service guys and she was selling them and
51:46
so she got her golden award that way.
51:49
Another one, another one, I was in the hospital and I was making rosaries in the hospital.
51:57
And I was selling them in there and I gave her the proceeds and she was selling them too.
52:05
She was making them and selling them. And she made the rosary walk up by St. Thomas.
52:10
Oh my. And the Knights of Columbus had upgraded it since. But the rosary walk at St.
52:16
Thomas is made by the one girl that wanted the Golden Award, and she got it.
52:21
That is beautiful. Do you want to tell everybody about that?
52:23
Because your husband, Dennis, was telling me about the rosary walk at that parish.
52:28
Yeah, it's outside. They actually have the... Like the stones,
52:34
or is it almost like a path to walk on?
52:37
What it is, is each bead is...
52:41
On the ground or something? On the ground. So when you say one prayer,
52:47
then you step to the next stone and you say the next prayer.
52:50
Beautiful. Yeah, and you stop at the Our Fathers. That's got to be great.
52:54
A nice journey to be outside and do that. That is just beautiful because the rosary is so important.
53:01
Yeah. It really is. I'll tell you. Wow.
53:03
Well, I hope, is there anything else we can tell people about that I missed
53:09
today? because you have fascinated me, and I'm sure you fascinated our listeners.
53:14
No, just look for a lady that has any sign that says free rosary repair. That's probably me.
53:22
And you will be here at some point. I'm around five parishes around my house
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for events, like the Magnificat talks for breakfast.
53:34
That's where I met one of the radio people here. Kathy, yeah.
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So within five minutes, you were repairing rosaries right away. Oh, yeah.
53:43
Yeah. They were excited to have you here today. And I was like,
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rosary repair? I didn't even know that was a thing.
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Let me ask you, what do people, do they sometimes not know what to do?
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Do they just get rid of their rosaries or put them in a drawer?
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They put them in a container. They put them in a drawer. People don't pray on broken rosaries.
54:01
Yeah, yeah. So for me to fix them and then to pray on them again,
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it's like a full circle moment for me.
54:09
Yeah, wow. You know, it just, and then they pray for me too.
54:12
Yeah, exactly. So I get a little benefit out of it. I love it.
54:15
And you know, the reason I was asking you about maybe a class,
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because it almost sounds, I can tell, it's like a meditation for you.
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You're sitting there and you're creating this and you're probably in a zone
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and you can feel the spirit of Mary in your heart and you're praying.
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And do you pray while you fix it?
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Most rosaries I say a little prayer for Okay You know and just,
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continue the blessings for these people, you know, and then I'll say Hail Mary,
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you know, because she's guided me. She's guided you. So, yeah.
54:47
Well, I'm glad she guided you here today because this has been a great conversation.
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I want to thank your husband, Dennis, for driving you here today.
54:55
He's a great guy. Thank you.
54:57
And Joyce Holm, you're a wonderful woman. You've got a great family and you've
55:00
put your ministry as repairing rosaries.
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And think of all the thousands and thousands of people that you have affected
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and think of the millions of prayers that have been said because of what you've done. Yeah. Just...
55:12
Can you reach and pat yourself on the back? No, that's not for me to do.
55:17
There's Dennis. He's pat you on the back. Well, thank you very much.
55:20
Thank you for being part of our show today. I appreciate it. Fascinating.
55:24
And this brings us to the end of today's Catholic Conversations.
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My thanks to the amazing Rosary Repair Lady.
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That's hard to say after I've been talking all day. Joyce Holm,
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you have been fantastic, Joyce. So thank you again.
55:37
She doesn't just fix rosaries. She restores connections to prayer,
55:42
to memory, and to one another.
55:44
Thank you again, Joyce, for being a guest on Catholic Conversations.
55:47
You've left us all a little more whole, and you got me a brand new rosary,
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and my wife is going to give me a hug and say, that's mine when I get home.
55:57
Hey, it's in our hope and our discussion today that is offered not just food
56:01
for thought, but a spark of encouragement for your faith journey.
56:04
Remember, our faith is a living conversation with God and with each other.
56:10
So, if you missed any part of today's show, we want you to revisit our conversation.
56:16
You can find our podcast at catholicspiritradio.com. Thank you for spending
56:21
time with us on Catholic Spirit Radio.
56:23
I'm Stan Ketzig, and thank you for spending time with us supporting the Catholic
56:28
Spirit Radio Network. We will see you again, and God bless you.
56:33
Amen. You've been listening to Catholic Conversations.
56:35
Download our podcasts at catholicspiritradio.com.